South Fayette Intermediate School announces schedules

Published Apr 18, 2013 at 3:30 pm
(Updated Apr 18, 2013 at 3:30 pm)

Information on what a typical day will be like for students who will go to the new South Fayette Intermediate School this fall was presented by the school’s principal, Greg Wensell, at an April 16 meeting of the South Fayette School Board.

A typical day for a third-grader at the new school will start at 9 a.m. with homeroom, which will then be followed by reading and language arts. Lunch will begin at 11:40 a.m., immediately followed by recess. A 60-minute math period will follow recess. Students will end the day with a sequence of specials, such as social studies or science and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) or explore time. Wensell said the specials will be 40-minute periods. Dismissal will be at 3:25 p.m. The day follows the same time schedule as the current elementary school – 9 a.m.-3:25 p.m.

Wensell said students will be getting about 10 minutes more per day of specials than they are getting at the elementary school.

Fourth-graders will start their day with homeroom followed by a sequence of 40-minute specials. They will then go to math for 60 minutes and lunch and recess at 12:10 p.m. The afternoon will be dedicated to reading and language arts, Wensell said.

The fifth grade will be organized into two-person teams, Wensell said. Two teachers will share two class sets of students, with the first block of the day devoted to reading and language arts or math, science or social studies. Science and social studies are both semester courses. Lunch and recess will begin at 11:10 a.m., after which students will head to STEAM classes. Then, students will head to their second block classes of the day of math, science or social studies or reading and language arts.

Wensell said the intermediate school and elementary school will share the following teachers: library, arts, arts alive and music. He said there will be one physical education teacher per building and students will have PE twice during the eight-day specials rotation. In addition to regular specials like music and PE, an additional special called Tech Literacy will be included in the intermediate school schedule.

“They’re ready for it,” said assistant superintendent Dr. Michael Loughead, of having a technical literacy class.

Wensell said that tech literacy and PE will meet on back-to-back days so teachers can do more in-depth projects. There will be no swimming or world language class in fifth grade once it moves to the intermediate school.

Construction on the intermediate school building is ahead of schedule, said Joe Brennan of P.J. Dick, the district’s construction management firm. The building is set to open sometime this summer, prior to the start of the school year.

Brennan talked to the board about some change orders that will need to be approved at the board’s April 23 meeting. He said one of the change orders includes relocating a door near the dock of the school in order to meet code requirements. The cost to relocate the door so it will not be close to the switchgear is $4,769. Another change order includes $756 to thicken a wall to accommodate plumbing in one area of the building.

Also, Brennan said to change the generator from diesel to natural gas would mean a change order of $2,710. A change order deleting eight faucets from eight sinks will net the district a credit of $704, Brennan said.

In other business:

• School board member Leonard Fornella was recognized for 32 years of service on the South Fayette School Board. He began serving on the board in 1980.

• Superintendent Dr. Bille Rondinelli informed the board that the district was ranked by the Washington Post to be in the top 1,900 most rigorous schools in the country.